Aston Martin ‘shocked and surprised’ by Red Bull’s ‘similar concept’

Red Bull questioned whether any of their intellectual property had been stolen after Aston Martin debuted an extensive aerodynamic upgrade package at the Spanish Grand Prix that bears a strikingly close resemblance to the RB18. 

The FIA investigated Aston Martin but cleared the team of any wrongdoing. 

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Aston Martin’s chief technical officer Andrew Green rejected Red Bull’s claims and said his team were “surprised” to see Red Bull produce a “similar concept”. According to Green, Aston Martin had developed two concepts for this season well in advance. 

“I think they’re completely false,” Green said of the accusations. “If you look at the development of the car that is sitting out there right now you’ll see that this all happened towards the end of last year before we’d seen anybody. 

"We were on a dual path, and it came as a shock but also a surprise that Red Bull came out with a similar concept as well.

“But I think that just reinforced our feeling at the time that of the two paths we had open to us we’d gone the wrong way, and I think that was confirmation of that.

Green added: “I don’t know what these accusations are that Red Bull are flinging about. All I can see is at no stage did we ever receive any data from any team, from anyone. 

“The FIA came in and did a thorough investigation, examined all the data, the history of the car, they interviewed all the people involved and concluded there was completely independent development, you’re talking about potential employees. 

“This car was conceived in the middle of last year as a dual route with the launch car, the majority of the releases were made before anybody, from Red Bull, even turned up. I think the accusations are very wide of the mark.” 

Will this be the end of the matter? 

Green said he is “disappointed” by Red Bull’s allegations considering the FIA has already concluded its investigation and cleared Aston Martin of breaking any rules. 

“Especially with the fact that the FIA have made a statement with respect to the car, and they’ve come in and looked and they’ve declared it’s legitimate independent work,” he said. 

“They’re the ones who see all the data, not just from us, but from all the teams. They really are the only ones who can make the judgement and by regulation they are obliged to make judgements on this, and they have. For me that’s the end of it.” 

Asked if Aston Martin would entertain the FIA taking another look at their car, Green replied: “We expect this to be the end, but if the FIA want to come back in again and do further investigations we’re more than happy for them to do so. 

“We’ve been completely open and honest with them through the whole process, we’ve given them every access that they’ve requested and if they want to come back and do some more then we’re more than happy for that to happen.